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Denver judge increases award for woman whose home was raided by SWAT team to $4M, ACLU says

Updated on: March 13, 2024 / 3:36 PM MDT / CBS Colorado

A Denver district judge has increased the amount of money the city will award to a woman whose home was raided by a Denver police SWAT team after mistakenly thinking the home contained stolen items.

Last week, a Denver jury ruled in favor of Ruby Johnson, whose home was the target of that January 2022 SWAT team raid. She was initially awarded $3.76 million as a result of that ruling, but Denver District Judge Stephanie Scoville increased that award on Monday to $4 million, according to Tim MacDonald, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado, which represented Johnson.

Ruby Johnson Joanna Kulesza / ACLU of Colorado

An ACLU Colorado spokesman said they weren't yet prepared to comment on the award increase, but said last week that the search warrant obtained by Denver police detectives lacked probable cause.

"This is a small step toward justice for Ms. Johnson, but it is a critical case under our state's Constitution, for the first time affirming that police can be held accountable for invading someone's home without probable cause," Macdonald said in a statement last week. "The ACLU worked hard in the summer of 2020, with lots of other stakeholders, to create a right to sue for violations of the state Constitution. This decision is the next step in ensuring that the rights in the Colorado Constitution are secured for all people in our State."

The warrant was obtained based on information gathered from the "Find My" iPhone app that was thought to be inside an allegedly stolen truck that Denver police say pinged at Johnson's home. The ACLU contends that investigators didn't understand the app, had no training on it and relied on technology that resulted in them getting false information.

This image taken from Denver Police body camera footage provided by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado shows Ruby Johnson, a 78-year-old Colorado woman, surrounded by SWAT officers, Jan. 4, 2022, in Colorado. Johnson, who sued two police officers after her home was wrongly searched by a SWAT team looking for a stolen truck, won a $3.76 million jury verdict Monday, March 4, 2024, under a new Colorado law that allows people to sue police over violations of their state constitutional rights. Denver Police Department via AP

Johnson sued Denver Police Detective Gary Staab, who obtained the warrant, and Sgt. Gregory Buschy, who reviewed and approved the warrant, the ACLU said in its lawsuit.

The Denver Police Department declined to comment on the case but said Staab and Buschy are still employed by the department.

The City Attorney's Office also declined to comment. A private attorney representing Staab did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Austen Erblat

Austen Erblat is a digital producer and assignment editor at CBS News Colorado and is Covering Colorado First. Originally from South Florida, he's been working as a journalist in Denver since 2022.

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